Sickbed waste receptacle holder



May 24, 1949.

H. L. CHANDLER SICKBED WASTE RECEPTACLE HOLDER Filed April 10, 1946 Patented May 24, 1949 UN STATES;

TENT OFFICE 1 Claim. 1 J

My invention relates to means for the reception of wastegfrom those confined to sick beds;

My; invention may bebetter understood from a perusal of current hospital practice. The word sterile is always uppermost in the mindsof those connected with hospitals in any way. To be sterile means to be free from bacteria and so every efiort is made to keep everything sterile or asceptic to the end that dangerous bacteria may be eliminated and kept from growing and spreading. Tuberculosis, for instance, is a very dangerous disease and is spread by the sputum of the patient. Many patients sick with this disease are constantly coughing up sputum laden with the tubercle bacilli. The use of disposable tissue is encouraged and sometimes demanded of these patients but there is still chance for improvement as will be seen.

Many hospitals, especially those of the Army and Navy, use paper bags which are pinned on one side to the bed sheet and/or mattress with a safety pin. The way the bag was folded during its manufacture causes it to readily close up. The patient must then open the bag with one hand while putting the tissue in with the other, or he must crowd the bag open while forcing the tissue in. Usually they throw the tissue on the floor. However, in putting the tissue into the bag the sputum is often wiped ofi on the bag and it then gets on the hands of those who unpin the bag. To avoid getting the sputum on her hands the nurse will jerk the bag off the pin and in doing so will invariably tear the sheet and maybe the mattress. This tear enlarges when the sheet is laundered. Sometimes a nurse will forget about the bag pinned on the shet and/or mattress but whether the sheet is torn by pulling it or the bag off, many sheets are ruined. I have had as many as fifty sheets torn in a single ward of a Navy hospital during one week. These tears in sheets and mattresses are also brought about by the patient pulling on the sheet when he turns or moves.

From the above it is apparent that one of my objectives is to eliminate damaged bedding.

Another objective is to prevent the spread of infection.

Another objective is to make the bag more readily usable to the patient.

Another objective is to provide many points of waste disposal in a hospital ward instead of a few widely separated ones.

Another objective is to provide a receptacle that is always open. and at hand whether th bed is fiat or inclined.

Another objective is to provide a receptaclethat is readily closed and removed without coming into contact with the contents or the opening into the receptacle.

How I accomplish thesaobjectiveswill now be.

more minutely described, recourse being had to the drawings accompanying this specification.

Fig. l of the drawings is a plan view of the holder-without the bag--attached to the bed springs; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic elevation showing how the bag is folded and torn before insertion in the holder.

Throughout the drawings and the specification similar numerals refer to similar parts.

I usually make the holder I out of stiff or hard drawn wire of about in diameter. The holder may be made in many ways depending upon the equipment at hand for forming it. Fig. 1 shows the holder I formed from a single length of wire. I find that what is known to the trade as a 20# kraft bag makes a very satisfactory receptacle and that this bag 2 folded and placed as I will describe will readily hold six pints of beer, as I have noticed, and will hold the vomit of a patient without leaking for some time. The bag holding loop 3 is made to fit the opening of the bag 2. This loop 3 is formed with two legs 4 which extend in close juxtaposition for some distance and are spread to form diverging terminals 5 which are looped back to form the hooks 6 adapted to hook over portions of the bed springs I. This holder I is slipped under the mattress 8 and hooked to the bed springs I the diverging ends or terminals 5 preventing the holder I from turning over and the hooks 6 prevent the holder from being accidentally removed. It is to be seen that neither the sheet 9 or the mattress 8 is connected with or to the holder I.

The unopened stock bag 2 is folded over and creased as shown in Fig. 3, first on one side and then on the other and is then torn on the side If] down to the fold or creased line I I. After creasing, the bag 2 is turned inside out down to the line I I to form a cuff I2 which is bifurcated by the tear 23. The prepared bag 2 is slipped upwardly thru the loop 3 and then lowered so that the cuff I2 may straddle the loop 3 with the tear I3 positioned to straddle the leg portions 4.

When it is desired to remove the bag 2 from the holder I all that is necessary is to grasp the bag 2 below the loop 3 to constrict said bag whereupon it is pulled downwardly and out of the holder I.

I have described one form of the holder and how it is made. It is apparent that the holder may assume other forms and may be made by other methods without departing from the basic idea. I have described how a stock bag may be formed for use as the receptacle. It is apparent that a specially formed receptacle may be made and of a stiff material such as cardboard. The legs of my holder may be elongated so that they may be slipped under the pad on an operating table and the hooks thereon engage the opposite side of the table. The above is apparent without additional drawings.

Most hospital beds are built so that either or both ends may be inclined from the horizontal. Even though they may be elevated to avery steep angle my arrangement is such that the bag is always open, and because of its depth the contents cannot fall out.

I do not limit my invention to the exact disclosures but extend it to all that comes fairly within the scope of the appended claim. What is new over the prior art follows:

The combination, in a sick bed wastereceptacle, of a stock paper bag having its open end provided with a cufi formed by folding over and creasing the unopened bag from each side, tearing one side down to the fold, and then turning the bag inside out down to said fold and a holder formed of a length of wire having its middle portion bent into a loop adapted to be received between the cufi and the body portion of the bag and its end portions extended in right angled parallel juxtaposition from one side of said loop and then diverged to provide lateral stability with the extremities terminating in hooks to engage the springs of a bed beneath the mattress.

, HARRY L. CHANDLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,052,379 Ranken Feb. 9, 1913 1,638,912 Brater Aug. 16, 1927 1,867,971 Hart July 19, 1932 2,062,023 Gosselin Nov. 24, 1936 2,261,511 Baker et al Nov. 4, 1941 

